Xi Jinping on track to lead China

by Barbara Demick - Oct. 19, 2010 12:00 AMLos Angeles Times

BEIJING - Unless something goes badly wrong for Xi Jinping over the next two years, it looks like a fait accompli that the 57-year-old Communist Party official, who has been groomed his entire career for leadership, will be China's next president.

At the end of a four-day meeting of the party's central committee on Monday, Xi was named vice chairman of the central military commission, a position overseeing the People's Liberation Army that is considered a stepping-stone for assuming the leadership. Hu Jintao was given the same post in 1999, three years before he became secretary-general of the Communist Party. Hu became president in 2003.

"It looks like the case is closed. Based on today's announcement, he'll be the next leader," said Jin Zhong, editor of Hong Kong-based Open magazine and an analyst of the Communist Party.

Many have described Xi, a large man who has at times struggled with his weight, as unusually personable. "He's extremely warm. He has none of the airs of an official who's impressed with himself," said Robert Lawrence Kuhn, who interviewed Xi for a book about the Chinese leadership, "How Chinese Leaders Think."

The party's internal deliberations about the leadership are secret, although it has been widely reported that Xi won a straw poll among party officials in 2007 as the favored candidate of the so-called fifth generation of Chinese leaders.

"He is a safe choice. The party didn't want uncertainty," said Liu Junning, a political scientist based in Beijing. Liu said Xi's views on sensitive issues remain largely unknown since he had not tended to put himself on the line.

Hu Jintao is due to retire as party secretary in 2012. Xi, if selected to replace him, would likely assume the presidency the following year.